The present invention relates to a glue roller for applying glue to the closure flaps of a cigarette pack, and more particularly to a dimple pattern glue roller that applies glue to such closure flaps in an efficient and economical manner.
High speed production procedures are used for folding and assembling cigarette pack blanks into finished cigarette packs. During these procedures, the cigarette pack blanks are partially folded into shape and glue is applied to outwardly extended closure flaps prior to folding the flaps against the assembled pack. It is important that the glue be applied in an efficient and economical manner, and also that the glue be applied in a manner that enables clean operation of the packer machines. The prior art fails to achieve these overall objectives.
Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is a dimple pattern glue roller that applies glue to the closure flaps of cigarette packs in a highly efficient and economical manner.
Another object of the present invention is a dimple pattern glue roller that uses substantially less glue when compared to existing glue applicators presently employed in the assembly of cigarette packs.
Another object of the present invention is a dimple pattern glue roller that applies a cleaner pattern of glue which results in an overall cleaner operation.
In accordance with the present invention, a dimple pattern glue roller applies glue to the closure flaps of partially assembled cigarette packs. The roller has an outer cylindrical surface, and a pattern of dimpled recesses are provided in the cylindrical surface for receiving glue and applying that glue to the closure flaps.
Preferably, the pattern of dimpled recesses in the cylindrical surface includes two pattern repeats so that for each revolution of each pair of the glue rollers two cigarette packs are processed. Also, each dimpled recess may have a diameter of approximately 1.48 to 1.50 mm, and a depth of 0.32 to 0.36 mm, preferably 0.34 mm.
The pattern of dimpled recesses may include three equally spaced apart lines of dimpled recesses parallel to one another along circumferential lines on the outer cylindrical surface of the roller. Two of the lines are positioned close to the outer edges of the cylindrical surface, one on each side, and the other line is centrally located on the cylindrical surface.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the dimpled recesses of each of the three lines are equally spaced apart. Also, two additional lines of dimpled recesses may be positioned between the three equally spaced apart lines, one additional line on each side of the centrally located line on the cylindrical surface of the roller. The spacing between the dimpled recesses of the two additional lines may be substantially more than the spacing between the dimpled recesses of the three lines.
In another embodiment of the invention the dimpled recesses of the two lines positioned close to the outer edges of cylindrical surface are equally spaced apart while the dimpled recesses on the central line are equally spaced apart with substantially more spacing than the spacing between the dimpled recesses on the other two lines.